My Mom was the first Indonesian Olympic medalist

Della Adisty Handayani, a business management student at the Airlangga University, is the daughter of Indonesia’s first ever Olympic medalist, Lilies Handayani. Her mother had taken home the silver medal together with teammates, Kusuma Wardhani and Nurfitriyana Saiman in the Women’s archery team event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Following in the monumental and illustrious footsteps of her mother is definitely a tall order for the19-year-old Indonesian compound archer, but she is under no pressure to emulate her mother’s achievements.

Instead, she largely takes archery as her hobby and a reprieve from the rigors of a formal education. She is determined to pursue a career in business and that is her number one focus at the moment. However, she is equally determined to perform to the best of her ability at the current 2016 AUG, as it is an honor to represent her country and a chance to make her parents proud.

“My family inspired me to take up archery as all of my family do archery, especially my mom because she got the Olympics medal in 1988, it was the first medal for my country and archery.

Maybe archery is for fun and maybe I will represent my province in the future, but for now I am focused on my studies and career in business, that’s why I chose management business in my university,” said Handayani with conviction.

On the other hand, for teammate and recurve archer Mesra Ayuni, 19, she strives to represent her country at a higher level in the future, provided the opportunity arises and if she can keep up her good performances.

“Of course we practice everyday to keep improving. We also practice in visualization and imaginary training.

If I am still strong enough, then yes I will want to go to the SEA Games and continue in archery after I graduate,” mentioned Ayuni.

She is currently shooting well in the Women’s individual recurve and has qualified for the gold medal match on Sunday, 17July.

“I shot great, was comfortable and confident of my performance. Of course I am confident going into the final,” revealed Ayuni.